November 11, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

The recent election spotlights how fractured America has become. Thankfully, walking offers one simple way to connect with one another. Sidewalks, streets, trails and other places we travel on foot are common ground—literally, commons we all share. They are among the few places where Americans of many backgrounds come together face-to-face, giving us the chance to smile, wave, talk and get to know someone different than ourselves. It is much harder to fear, hate, dismiss or ignore people you cross paths with every day.

November 11, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

The recent election spotlights how fractured America has become. Thankfully, walking offers one simple way to connect with one another. Sidewalks, streets, trails and other places we travel on foot are common ground—literally, commons we all share. They are among the few places where Americans of many backgrounds come together face-to-face, giving us the chance to smile, wave, talk and get to know someone different than ourselves. It is much harder to fear, hate, dismiss or ignore people you cross paths with every day.

A student skateboards to school on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail (By Sciondriver under a Creative Commons license)

September 28, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

Indianapolis is not yet a city people add to their bucket lists or dream about moving. It’s generally seen as a good town to raise a family or find a job—a sensible, comfortable, but not exactly exciting or exceptional place. But after a weeklong visit--where I sampled everything from world-class arts institutions to working-class taverns, I came away distinctly surprised and impressed.

September 28, 2016

The places we all share – the commons – vary in many ways. Some are busy places; some are quiet. Some are designed as pass-through places; others invite us to stay awhile. They all are important to our lives. Now new research shows that green, natural spaces—including playgrounds, learning environments, neighborhoods, even exercise environments— offer particular health and well-being benefits.

August 17, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

The Great Lakes Commons has launched Great Lakes Journeys, an initiative to celebrate this unparalleled commons through public performances and events. They’ve just published a handbook, Great Lakes Commons Journey, to guide you on your own adventures. You can download a free PDF here.

Duluth is the next stop, August 20 through September 11. Here’s what’s in store:

August 14, 2016 | By David Bollier

Many progressives disagree with Hillary Clinton on a number of issues, in some cases intensely. But there is one overarching reason we should all be vigorously supporting her election: The future of the Supreme Court is at stake.

August 14, 2016

“It’s time to talk about the weather. We in trouble friends. Storm clouds are coming in,” chant poets and performers Alix Garcia and Naima Penniman in the opening of their video “When the Last Tree Stands Alone”. Known collectively as Climbing PoeTree—a spoken-word, hip hop, multimedia duo—Garcia and Penniman eloquently activate an alarm about climate disruption, and then rouse us all to do something about it.

August 14, 2016

Rent isn't talked about much in polite society; it’s the 800-pound gorilla everyone pretends isn’t there. Economists in particular rarely mention it, not out of ignorance but because they find it awkward to offend those who collect it disproportionately. The time has come, though, to bring rent out of the closet, for it holds the key to saving both our middle class and planet.

Piada 52 is cooperative cafe in Forli, Italy, hiring unemployed kids, which has helped rivitalize a park once known for drug dealing.

August 14, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

There’s a big secret in the global economy, which the powers that be hope we continue to overlook: cooperatives.

In most Americans’ minds, coops are an admirable but inconsequential business sector. The place where idealistic shoppers go to score locally-brewed kombucha and fair-trade quinoa. Or maybe where their great-grandparents sold farm commodities during the hard times of the Depression.

The Tanka staff are now co-owners of the company. (Photo by Katie Hunter)

August 14, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

The Pine Ridge Indian reservation is not the first place you’d look for good news about creating a new kind of economy that works for everyone.

This corner of South Dakota includes several of the poorest counties in America, according to census figures. Ninety-seven percent of Pine Ridge’s Lakota Indian population lives below the federal poverty line, reports the American Indian Humanitarian Foundation. The unemployment rate is well over 50 percent.

August 14, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

The disaster with Flint, Michigan’s drinking water, incited by political leaders more devoted to fiscal austerity than the common good, illuminates why it’s important to think of our communities as commons, which belong to all residents not just the wealthy and politically powerful.

The commons means the many things we share together rather than own privately--a list that starts with air, water, parks and streets and expands to include more complex entities such as the Internet, civic organizations and entire communities.

May 20, 2016 | By David Morris

“What should Bernie do?” That seems to be the question of the month. Permit me to weigh in.

Here’s what we know at this point in the campaign.

For Sanders to have any chance of winning the support of superdelegates he must arrive at the convention with more elected delegates than Hillary. To do that he needs to win about 65 percent of all elected delegates in the remaining electoral contests.

April 9, 2016 | By David Morris

Win or lose, Bernie Sanders has made this Democratic primary the most substantive in my lifetime. Not that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is devoid of ideas. She has some thoughtful ones. But the boldness of Sanders’ proposals is what has driven this historic and instructive debate.

The dynamic so far consists of Sanders setting a marker (e.g. free tuition, universal free health care, breaking up the banks, a $15 federal minimum wage, a $1 trillion public works investment); Clinton responds, and their two camps engage in a spirited, intelligent, and surprisingly concrete debate.

March 28, 2016

Across the country, people are suffering the consequences of a banking system that’s dominated by a handful of giant banks. Local businesses can’t get the credit they need to grow. College graduates are stumbling under the weight of student debt with sky-high interest rates. Neighborhoods are being stripped of their assets through predatory mortgages and consumer loans.

March 28, 2016

Can we truly know wilderness? The word itself defies constraint, and contains multiple meanings. “An uncultivated and uninhabited region,” “an empty or pathless area,” and “a confusing multitude” are but a few definitions of wilderness, all of which indicate humans’ complex and changeable relationship to nature.

March 28, 2016

March 26, 2016

There are many visions of what a new economy might look like: more local than global, more sharing than exploitative, more respectful of the earth than of profit. What’s missing in most of these visions, however, is the system architecture needed to guide the economy in those directions, and keep it headed there for the indefinite future.

March 26, 2016 | By Jay Walljasper

The US gave up on walking in the mid-20th Century—at least planners and politicians did. People on foot were virtually banished from newly constructed neighborhoods. Experts assured us that cars and buses (and eventually helicopters and jet packs) would efficiently take us everywhere we wanted to go.